


Brother's Keeper

by Nathamuel



Series: Drakecest Mermaid AU [1]
Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Imprisonment, M/M, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-08-08 16:57:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7765900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nathamuel/pseuds/Nathamuel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was nothing more boring than staring at fish all day. Except maybe to have to keep them company with <i>nothing else to do</i> and no way to escape.<br/>It was a rather special kind of zoo that Sam had found himself in for the last years, ever since the prison ward in Panama had sold him to a bunch of shady guys.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brother's Keeper

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know what to say to this. Partially dedicated to Nigaki, since they like Merpeople as much as I do. <3

People were staring at him. Under any other circumstances that would have already bothered Sam, did bother him in fact. It was _bad_ when people stared at a thief. The only place where Sam wanted to be stared at was in the bedroom and then not by so many people at once. In his book, you had done something wrong if there were more than three people at most in the same bedroom, maybe occasionally four.

The ironic thing was… he basically _was_ in his bedroom. And his living room. And his kitchen. And his fucking toilet all rolled into one tank that spanned around 300 square meters with glass walls that were another 6 meters in height, or more. The water distorted the distance and he couldn’t, in all actuality, tell how big this tank really was. There was no door, only a ceiling made of steel and one little trapdoor behind a set of bars that were never open at the same time as the trapdoor. The trapdoor was open, the bars were closed and vice versa. It was there for the zoo keeper to let fish and other things fall into the tank as food for Sam and his tank-mates, which consisted of one big turtle, a couple of smallish sharks and some other varieties of fish that Sam might have called pretty once upon a time if he didn’t have to stare at them all day, every day for the last two years. Counting days was pretty much the only thing he could do, except stare back at the crowd, or staring at fish.

There was nothing more boring than staring at fish all day. Except maybe to have to keep them company with _nothing else to do_ and no way to escape.

It was a rather special kind of zoo that Sam had found himself in for the last years.

Lazily, Sam moved his fin, swimming past the glass and feeling the visitors eyes follow him, staring at his fish tail, the scales covering his skin and the webbing between his fingers, now tipped with claws. If he were to look at them, they might even seen his milky eyes, covered by a thin skin that allowed him to protect his eyes underwater. One he usually did not use all day, but ever since he had been brought from the prison in Panama to this place, he had not been able to retract his second eyelids at all. In fact, he had not been able to get himself to shift at all, period. No matter how much he had tried. His body didn’t listen to him. 

Another flip of his fin and he turned the corner of his _home_. His tank, the _aquarium_ was placed smack in the middle of a big hall, allowing him the view of the other cells and at the same time allowing visitors to stare at him from all sides. Wonderful. Whoever owned this zoo had gone all out. There was a cell holding a werewolf in their wolf-shape. A massive beast half out of it’s mind, thanks to the silver band around it’s neck. Whatever human part it might have once possessed it had long gone, Sam thought.

There were all kinds of fantastical creatures, separated by glass and steel. Sam hadn’t once seen one of it escape in his time here, although sometimes one of them disappeared. Some of them had looked ill when they had arrived. It stood to reason that a percentage of them did not recover from living in imprisonment. Sam could relate.

He was pretty sure that this establishment was illegal. There weren’t many that knew that things like himself and the werewolf and the harpy existed and as they all were varying shades of human, it should have been illegal to lock them up. Of course there were no laws in place. Their existence was unknown after all and as long as they didn’t look fully human, the laws probably didn’t apply. Or that was what the owner of this zoo might tell themselves, if they cared at all. In Sam’s experience, a little bit of corruption always went with having a lot of money and whoever the owner was, they had a ton of it.

Sam sighed, letting bubbles rise up. His gills worked to pump water and supply him with oxygen. The first couple of weeks he had been ill, after they had thrown him into this tank, his new home. It had taken them a while to get the water right, but then he had recovered. For a few days it had been like breathing poison, then it had been like breathing air that lacked the necessary oxygen. He had never had an aquarium and didn’t know a lot of fish. His interests had usually been more towards pirates and less about anything underneath the surface. That had been more Nathan’s domain, but he knew that there were bacteria and all kinds of things needed in the water for fish to thrive. He wondered what his water had to be made up off for _him_ to thrive.

Sam turned another corner, letting the tips of his webbed fingers slide over the glass and watching a bunch of children stare at him in awe. Judging by their clothes and that of their parents, they were well off. Rich. From what Sam had gathered from the meager informations given to him, this was a high-end expensive private zoo. That, of course, could already be gathered by the type of… animals that were locked up here.

But after all, there was nothing else he could base this observation on, only by the clothes of the visitors and the fact that none of the other creatures could have been easily caught. Unlike him. Sam wondered how much he had been worth. For how much had the owner of this zoo bought him from the prison ward in Panama.  
He let his fingernails dig against the glass. A father pulled his son back as he left faint scratches in the surface. In the past, he had slammed himself against the walls, against the trapdoor but nothing had budged, they had simply sedated him and bought thicker glass. So now he merely amused himself by occasionally scaring the visitors. Well… “scaring”, he wasn’t much of a threat in here.

Another corner was turned. A little shark kept him company for a while. 

He would have never thought that he would miss prison. At least there he had been able to talk with someone. Here no one even acted like he was capable of speech. Not that they gave him chances to prove it either. Not even right after they had bought him. From his cell in Panama he had been brought to a car, they had driven a while and no one had answered any of Sam’s questions and then he had been knocked out. The next thing he had known was that he had been stripped and thrown into the water. Instincts that had been suppressed for ten years had done the rest when he had come into contact with the salty water.

He stroked a hand over the shell of the turtle as she swam passed him. 

Now he could understand why big cats in animal parks paced so much. There was just nothing else to do in a cell like that. Sam turned around and swam into the center of the tank. The hole in the ground, cut into the rocks to make it look natural, was still closed. So no rest for him. He could still squeeze into one of the gaps in the rocks but he didn’t feel like squeezing into an even tinier space.  
Behind the hole lay his cell, made for sleeping and at the beginning, made for keeping him contained whenever he acted out or the tank needed cleaning. Now they simply left him outside when his keeper cleaned. He hadn’t attacked anyone in a while. For now, he just wanted to observe. Maybe eventually he would think of a workable plan to get him to freedom again.

Someone tapped the glass. His merman nature was attuned to little shock waves, or were it sound waves, that told him where his prey was, not that he had really needed to hunt in this tank, or at any other point in his life if you ignored the dumpster diving in his youth. Even when his mother had been alive they had only playfully hunted for fish when they had made the monthly trip to the ocean and then the annual one when it had only been Nathan and him. Eating raw fish had been a matter of self control at the beginning of his stay. That or starving and now it was nothing more than a habit. His palate was made for this food he learned. Not that he still wished for some pizza every other day, or really, anything. He wouldn’t even say no to vegetables.

Sam turned towards the not—quite-noise and swam closer. Children often did that, as well as the adults. Hell, everyone did that. Usually he ignored them. There was no reward in acknowledging them, but right now he was so bored out of his _mind_ that he was ready to knock his head against the walls. What he wouldn’t give for a good book. Anything. Even a book about cooking would have been nice right now. His belly growled, but feeding time was still a couple of hours away. A shark followed him and Sam petted it briefly before resuming his way.

The one who had knocked wasn’t a child, although she was on the smallish side. Although anyone below 6’1” was tinier to him. Perk or downside of being tall. With his tail he was actually taller now than with his human legs. Not that it helped him in any way in here. It wasn’t like he stood up straight, so to speak, while swimming around.

The woman tapped lightly against the glass again, looking at him. She stopped abruptly when the old man behind her laid a hand on her shoulder. Some paces back and to the side, guards were watching them. Sam was just happy that the tapping had stopped. It could get annoying quickly. 

He lazily moved his fin while he looked back at the woman. She was blond, brown-eyed and dressed in expensive clothes she did not seem to be that comfortable in. If he had to be honest, she did not seem to be at ease at all. He had seen that pitying look before even if she herself wasn’t familiar to him. For a moment, she mouthed something at him. It looked a little like his name, but maybe that was only wishful thinking. Visitors sometimes tried to talk to him, usually exaggerated like they were… well… talking to an animal. A stupid one at that. Sam switched his gaze to the man.

In contrast, he seemed very familiar to him. Gray-haired with a mustache, but many old upper-class guys seemed to think that mustaches were the latest fashion. Sam didn’t know what was up with that. There were a dime a dozen among his audience, usually with their richly dressed wives or lovers hanging off their arms, but still, he knew that face.

Sam caught his gaze, blue eyes that reminded Sam of Nathan. But there was a lot that reminded Sam of his little brother. Hell, just wondering what type of shark was in here with him was enough to make him think of Nathan. That was hardly anything new, but still, Sam found himself cocking his head in question. He knew that guy, but damn if he could remember from where. Someone from another life. 

Slowly, he inched closer to the glass, holding their eyes, both their eyes because the woman had a keen gaze and watched his every move. Sam laid his webbed hands against the glass. 

Usually, he had a good memory when it came to faces and names. A thief had to be, lest they accidentally stole from the same person twice, or tried to sell their stolen goods back to them. Not remembering a name or a face could prove fatal in their business. Not that he had been really part of the business for years or would be in years to come, not as long as he was in an aquarium and part of the exhibition.

The woman laid her hand against his, separated by glass. It let Sam’s stomach roll even though her gate was kind and intelligent. Others had done that though, taken a photo, look how _human_ it seems, as if it could be one of them.

He let his hand fall away and swam back a little when a guard came closer. For a moment Sam fingered the webbing on his hand thoughtfully, while a guard berated her not to touch the glass. Afterward the couple lingered, watching him. Sam wondered if the guy was the woman’s sugar daddy, although she didn’t seem the type. Maybe they were related? Father and daughter on a Sunday trip to a zoo? 

Then the woman and the old man turned away. Sam followed them as much as he could while they circled the room, taking a look at the other exhibits. Their posture was relaxed, for the most part. There were some lines of tension that Sam could decipher, but he didn’t know what it _meant_. His confusion made him agitated and he paced quickly a couple of times in front of the glass before forcefully calming himself down. It felt as if an opportunity was slipping through his fingers and he didn’t even know what kind.

Sam’s belly twisted and for a moment he couldn’t breathe as they left through the door, seeing the rest of the zoo and leaving through the other side. The next few hours he wracked his brain, but it was only when he swam through the hole in the ground and into the little cell behind it to sleep that the name came to him.

What was Victor Sullivan doing in this private zoo?


End file.
